Drier.



I Patented Sept. 9, I902. A. T. WELCH.

DRIER.

(Applicatign file d June 7, 1901.1

(No Model.)

awoem f/mym fl attain w UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ABRAHAM T. WELOH, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

DRIER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 708,604, datedSeptember 9, 1902. Original application filed October 22, 1897, SerialNo. 656,062. Divided and this applicationfiled June 7, 1901. Serial Toall whom, it may concern: t

Be it known that I, ABRAHAM T. WELCH, a

citizen of the United States of America, and

- ing or scorching, and with one and the same apparatus to dry, cook,cook and dry, process, cook and process, or cook, process, and drydifferent kinds of material by the direct application of unconfinedheat.

With this object in view the invention consists in the apparatus fortreating animal and vegetable matter by direct heat and superheatedsteam, as will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification, andin which like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts, I haveillustrated one form of apparatus capable of carrying my procedures intoeffect, although it is to be understood that other forms of embodimentmay be employed without departing from the spirit of the same, and inthis drawing the figure is a view in side elevation, partly in section,showing on organized apparatus for carryingmy invention into effect.

In the drawing, A designates a metallic cylinder having secured to itsinterior a plurality of shelves'or knives a, the same increasinginnumber from the entrance end of the apparatus to the discharge endthereofthat is to say, in this instance there will be at the entranceend eight of these knives, farther on sixteen, and still farther onthirty-- twothe object of this arrangement being to v have the materialwhen it first enters the apparatus picked up in masses and droppedthrough the heat, and as it is moved through the apparatus toward thedischarge broken up into smaller particles, so that every part of thematerial being dried will be evenly subjected to the heat; but it is tobe understood that in some instances the cylinder may (No mo del.)

be provided with the same number of knives throughout its entire length.The cylinder is here shown as mounted in an inclined position uponwheels or rollers a and a, the periphery of the roller 01, being smoothand that of the roller provided with flanges, these rollers beingengaged by bands or tracks a, secured around the cylinder. The object ofthe fiangeson the roller a is to prevent retrograde movement of the,cylinder, due to its inclined position. The brackets or supports a? forthe rollers are mounted upon transverse or bed pieces a", only one beingshown in this instance, and thesebeams are supported at the entranceendof the machine upon uprights a and at the discharge end uponscrew-jacks a It will be seen that by raising the screw-jacks theinclination of the discharge end of the cylinder may be changed toincrease or diminish the feed, according to the character of thematerial being dried. The front or entrance end of the cylinder isclosed by a head-plate A and to keep the cylinder against this plate atall times when in operation to prevent escape of material at this pointI provide in this instance two adjustable rollers of, (only one beingshown,) which bear against the bandgear 00 secured to the exterior ofthe drum. The shaftofihe roller a is journaled in an adjustable box a,against which bears a screw 0, By moving this screw the roller will beforced against the band-gear a and thus keep the cylinder against theheadplate for the'purpose mentioned. The bandgear a is engaged by abevel-gear a driven from a suitable source of power, as by a belt andpulley, (indicated in dotted lines.) The head is provided with a hoppera, the opening in the head through which the material passes from thishopper to the interior of the cylinder being covered by a hinged door 00which will readily open inward when the mai terial is feeding into theapparatus, but will otherwise be closed by gravity to prevent escape ofheat and all bad odors.

The mechanism for supplying heat to the drier comprises acombustion-chamber a fixed at its inner portion to the head-plate A andsupported at its outer portion by a stand ard a". Mounted upon the outerend of the chamber a is a movable collar a, the function of which is toincreaseor diminish the draft or pull on the flame from the gas-outlet(1 the latter being designed to keep the flame circular--tl1at is tosay, separate and distinct from and between the air forced andinduced-to prevent rapid and consequent too sudden cooling of the gas byad mixture with atmospheric air, and by radiation alone to heat the airin the combustion-chamber gradually from the inlet to the outlet endthereof, at which latter point there will be perfect combustion. Thecombustion-chamber herein shown is open at both ends, between which andthe injector-burner there is sufficient space to permit of the collar abeing moved to and from the burner on the injectorburner. Thus if thecollar is moved up close to the burner there will be a strong pull onthe flame from the burner or injector, and if the collar is moved back,so as to increase the space between the two chambers, the pull will bediminished. The object of this arrangement is to vary the force orprojection of the flame into the cylinder, so as to be able to preventtoo-sudden chilling of the gas-flame with cold air. The heating mediumin this instance is gas, the same being supplied from the carbureter Bthrough a pipe I), and tapped into this pipe I) is a by-pass pipe 5terminating adjacent to the outer end of the gas-outlet and constitutinga pilot-burner for the injector-burner, and on both these pipes b and bthere is a flame-arrester to prevent the flame from going back into thepipe, valves b and b being provided for the purpose of regulating thesupply of gas and air to the compound injector-burner. The air from thecarbureter is supplied from an ordinary airometer G, into which steam issupplied through a pipe 0-, leading to a suitable source of supply. Onthis pipe 0 is an injector 0 which operates to force air and steam withgreat force into the receiver, and on the pipe 0 is arranged adish-shaped defleeting-plate 0 having peripheral openings 0 throughwhich the steam and air escape into the water contained in theairometer, the steam being condensed and the air from the pipe 0escaping through a chamber 0 secured to the upper end of the pipe andprovided with openings similar to those of the deflecting-plate. Thedeflector a may be omitted when damp air or superheated steam isnecessary. In order to drain partial condensation, the pipe cis providedwith a trap 0 In order to regulate the supply of steam to the airometerin proper quantities and also to prevent the drum or cap of theairometer from being forced to too great a height by the effect of thesteam, the pipe 0 is provided with a valve 0 to the stem of which isconnected a lever 0 and to this lever is connected a rod 0 which passesthrough an arm c secured to the top of the airometer. Upon the rod 0 aretwo stops o and 0 the same being situated at a distance apart equal tothe height the drum of the airometer is to lift and drop. When theairometer has reached the limit of its upward stroke, the arm 0 bycontacting with the stop 0 will lift the lever 0 and thereby close thevalve 0 and when the cap sinks the arm 0 will contact with the stop 0and depress this lever 0 and thereby again open the valve. By thisarrangement the supply of air to the airometer in proper quantities isautomatically governed.

Arranged within the airometer and with its discharge end above thewater-level thereof is a pipe a the other end of which projects upwardunder the float b on the carburetor. This pipe at carries a four-waycoupling a, and attached to this coupling are two pipes, one of which,a, passes through the burner and into the combustion-chamber, 01, andthe other pipe Q23 enters a flue or conveyor-pipe d, presently to bedescribed. The pipe at carries a valve 01. by which the supply of air tothe combustion-chamber may be regulated at will. At the discharge end'ofthe cylinder is arranged a hopper E, and in an extension or chamber e,forming a part of this hopper, is arranged a cylindrical screen 2inclosing a shaft e carrying brushes 0. The

shaft 6 is journaled in suitable bearings formed in the extension of thehopper and in the rear wall thereof and carries at one end a pulley 6which may be driven from any suitable source of power. Below the screen6 the walls of the hopper converge and merge into the flue ordischarge-pipe D, and this flue may lead to any suitable point ofdeposit, as into a room, and the discharge end of the flue is flared atd in order to reduce the speed of discharge, and thereby obviategeneration of dust. The pipe a projects beyond the center line of thelower portion of the hopper, so that material flowing from the circularscreen will not have a chance to escape from the rear end of the flue,but will be forced outward to the place of deposit. The object of thescreen is to refine dried substances, so that any remaining moisturewill be driven 01f by the air to which it is subjected as it passesthrough the flue D, the supply of air through the pipe a beingcontinuous and under considerable pressure.

The apparatus herein described is particularly adapted for processingfish, the processing being accomplished by subjecting the fish whenwettest alternately to high and low degrees of heat, the heatprogressively decreasing as the material nears the discharge end of theapparatus. It will thus be seen that by this arrangement there will beno danger of scorching or burning the fish, as the heat decreases indirect proportion as the moisture evaporates, so that by the time thematerial has reached the discharge end of the cylinder there will not besufficient heat to scorch the same. By the employment of the knives orshelves the material will be picked up and rapidly dropped through theflame to the bottom side of the cylinder, the flame being projected intothe cylinder from the chamher a, this alternate picking up and droppingof the material being kept up throughout the entire length of thecylinder, so that the material is out of direct contact with the heatfor a greater period than it is in direct contact with it, this intervalof time in which the material is out of direct contact with the flamebeing sufficient to permit the fish thoroughly to absorb the'heat, whichwill thus pass through the entire mass. therefore, that the materiallies normally in a plane'removed from the direct path of the heat and isonly subjected to direct contact with the heat when falling through theupper side to the lower side of the cylinder. The

material now passes to the screen and is there fish this apparatus willbe equally adaptable for drying, curing, and threshing grain. The grainwill be fed through the hopper a and in passing through the heated flamewill be slowly dried and the hull expanded without burning, and the huskwill be threshed by contact with the shelves or knives.

Having thus fully described myinvention, What I claim as new, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a drier the combination with an inclined rotating drum, open atone end and closed at the other by a stationary wall, means forprojecting a flame through said wall into said drum at a substantialdistance above the base of said drum, means for feeding material to bedried into said drum through said wall, means for rotating said drum,and means for varying the inclination of said drum.

2. In a drier the combination with an inclined rotating drum, open atone end and closed at the other bya stationary Wall, means forprojecting a flame through said wall into It will be seen,

said drum, means for feeding material'to be dried into said drumthroughsaid wall, means for rotating said drum, means whereby by the rotationof said drum material is fed through the same and dropped throughsuccessive parts of the flame, and means for varying the rate of feedthrough said drum. v

3. In a drier the combination with a drum of means for projecting aflame into said drum at a substantial distance above the base of saiddrum, means for feeding material to be dried into and through said drum,means for delivering the material from the drum, and means for agitatingthe material to be dried in cooler air after it has been discharged fromthe drum.

4. In a drier the combination with a drum of means for projecting aflame into the drum at a substantial distance above the base of saiddrum, means for feeding the material to be dried into and through saiddrum, means for agitating the material to be dried in cooler air afterit has been discharged from the drum, and means for discharging thematerial from said agitating means.

5. In a drier the combination with a drum of means for projecting aflame into said drum at a substantial distance above the base of saiddrum, means for feeding material into and through said drum, means foragitating the material after it is discharged from the drum in coolerair, said agitating means consisting of a screen and a rotating brush.

6. In a drier the combination with a drum of means for projectinga flameinto said drum at a substantial distance above the base of said drum,means for feeding material into and through said drum, means foragitating the material after it is discharged from the drum in coolerair, said agitating means consisting of a screen and a rotatingbrush,'and means for discharging material from said agitating means.

Signed by me at Baltimore city, State of Maryland, this 22d dayof May,1901.

ABRAHAM T. WEL'CH.

Witnesses: HOWARD D. ADAMS, NORRIS G. CLARK.

